New Reality Seeds

[Astromancer]

Gordon-4

This Q6 Low Mana parallel diverged from Homeline in late 1968. The South Vietnamese government decided that the deal LBJ got for them was what they could get. Humphrey, because people were jubilant that the war was over, won in a landslide.

Humphrey decided that the Space Program was a strong way to show the flag. As the USA pulled out of Vietnam, doubling down on the Space Race became more affordable and more necessary to American prestige.

Humphrey backed the Space Program throughout his presidency. Instead of the shuttle, NASA, more fully funded went for a Spaceplane.

Russia simply couldn't keep up.

The local year is 1997. President Kerry has recently opened New Plymouth Base on the moon. Orbital manufacturing is in the prototype stage. Solar power satellites are just coming on line.

The Petroleum industry sees itself as dead industry walking. But no industry with that much power gives up without a fight.

Basically, this is corporate counter espionage. Centrum sees ways to use the Petroleum Industry to rule this parallel. Meanwhile, the Cabal wants to infiltrate the Moonbase. That's way harder if the Moonbase is canceled to prevent Solar Power Satellites. Homeline just doesn't want either of their rivals getting to much power.

[YankeeGamer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Gordon-4

This Q6 Low Mana parallel diverged from Homeline in late 1968. The South Vietnamese government decided that the deal LBJ got for them was what they could get. Humphrey, because people were jubilant that the war was over, won in a landslide.

Humphrey decided that the Space Program was a strong way to show the flag. As the USA pulled out of Vietnam, doubling down on the Space Race became more affordable and more necessary to American prestige.

Humphrey backed the Space Program throughout his presidency. Instead of the shuttle, NASA, more fully funded went for a Spaceplane.

Russia simply couldn't keep up.

The local year is 1997. President Kerry has recently opened New Plymouth Base on the moon. Orbital manufacturing is in the prototype stage. Solar power satellites are just coming on line.

The Petroleum industry sees itself as dead industry walking. But no industry with that much power gives up without a fight.

Basically, this is corporate counter espionage. Centrum sees ways to use the Petroleum Industry to rule this parallel. Meanwhile, the Cabal wants to infiltrate the Moonbase. That's way harder if the Moonbase is canceled to prevent Solar Power Satellites. Homeline just doesn't want either of their rivals getting to much power.

The petroleum industry is in tough shape, but not dead. Plastic will need feedstock essentially forever.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by YankeeGamer

The petroleum industry is in tough shape, but not dead. Plastic will need feedstock essentially forever.

I've always found it something of a dealbreaker in terms of taking a setting seriously too. There have been several candidates for evil industry of the era over the years. None of them have put up all that much of a fight against change, and that's not coincidental. Capitalist corporations don't cooperate well to fight for their "industry". Even assuming they could see a need to do so, they're in it for themselves, not a higher collective. And frankly, so are the funding sources that they aggregate to form their basis of power. If the economy is shifting enough they are obviously in danger, money is bleeding out of them already.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Originally Posted by YankeeGamer

The petroleum industry is in tough shape, but not dead. Plastic will need feedstock essentially forever.

Assuming this setting can't crack whatever the problem is with renewable sources is (of which I have no knowledge other than it is a thing people want).

[YankeeGamer]

Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw

Assuming this setting can't crack whatever the problem is with renewable sources is (of which I have no knowledge other than it is a thing people want).

The petroleum industry has options. If sufficient energy is available, just MAKING gasoline and whatever from water and carbon dioxide has potential, though it would take some research. Oil has great energy density, and the gasoline infrastructure is in place, so developing the tech to make hydrocarbons on an industrial scale would pay off.
In short, the extraction industry is doomed, eventually, but the rest of the system isn't. No matter what sort of timeline, extraction is eventually doomed, as there is a finite amount to extract.

[Astromancer]

Ottoman-7

This Q6 Low Mana parallel diverged soon after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. The Turks decided that going north to conquer the Russians was more practical than going west. Venice was to profitable as a trading partner, and Spain and Austria were dangerous. But if they conquered Russia first they could attack Europe's weakest flank first.

The local year is 1570. Ivan the Terrible, with backing from Novagrad is leading the resistance to Selim II 's attempt to conquer Russia. Moscow has been under siege three times in this war already.

Basically, it's a colder sword and sandals setting. There is some magic in the setting as well. Certainly the Russians saw getting rescued by the Poles as a holy miracle. Getting the Poles, the Hungarians, and the Austrians, allied against the Turks would be a Russian dream.

[David Johnston2]

Lothair-2: Named after Lothair II, Lothair-2 diverged when a group of magicians approached Lothair II and applied to have a parcel of normal mana land turned over to them to be used as the site of an institution of magical learning. He agreed and after his death, the magicians backed his illegitimate son Hugh's right to succeed to the thrown of Lotharingia beginning a dynasty that made the most of their magicians guild to rise to become masters of an empire that dominated western Europe. It's unknown why the higher level mana spread but Homeline investigators speculate that the appearance of the initial normal mana zone in the first place may be the true point of departure. Now in the 19th century magicians have crafted "beastfolk" out of animals to serve as slaves who are on the verge of an uprising and to the East a race of "demons" has invaded through a planar gate, threatening the Empire's eastern reaches.

[Astromancer]

Hokushin Ron-2

Hokushin Ron is the Japanese name for their plans to invade Russia from the east. In this Q6 Low Mana parallel the Japanese actually went through with Hokushin Ron (in both Hokushin Ron 1 and 3 the invasion went pretty much as the Homeline Japanese thought it would, badly) in Hokushin Ron-2 things went differently.

It's 1944 and Russia is bogged down in a two front war. The only good news is that FDR finally provoked Germany into a naval incident in the Atlantic and Hitler impulsively declared war. But the extra year and a half wait has been miserable for the Russians. The British have also suffered in Europe, with Japan focused on mainland Asia, Singapore, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, and French Indo-China, have all been peaceful backwaters.

Centrum is working hard to make WWII far worse for the Russians. They hope to both preempt the Cold War and reduce stress on the British, Dutch, and French empires. They also want to prevent the Bretton Woods system (although labeled Imperialist, the Bretton Woods system was inherently bad for empires because it removed the advantages of having an empire).

Both Homeline Russia and China are actively interfering in this parallel. The Icops and Homeline generally want to limit this. The Cabal is working on luring both Britain and France into the game as well. Mainly to tie down Homeline and Cabal resources.

Basically, espionage in an Alternative WWII.

[Phil Masters]

Horrox

Jeremiah Horrocks had better luck - or maybe a better immune system - in this timeline than in most; whatever killed him at the age of 22 in Homeline history apparently gave him a miss here. Hence, he was able to promote his treatise, Venus in sole visa, in person, with the aid of his friend and colleague William Crabtree, and the Copernican model of the solar system was accepted more rapidly in Britain, at least in puritan-academic circles.

Horrocks continued his meticulous observational work on both the planets and the tides, and his readings came into the hands of his friend John Wallis, who poured over them until eventually he derived the laws of gravity decades ahead on Newton in most timelines. Less academic puritans were initially uncomfortable with this "New Science", but came to accept it, if only because it seemed to annoy the Catholics. The "New Science" became "Puritan Science", and Horrocks was adopted as a symbolic figure and mathematical consultant by Parliament when the Civil War erupted - with Crabtree by his side. Hence, Crabtree in turn survived for longer, being safely away from the front instead of dying at Marston Moor.

Meanwhile, Horrocks' use of state-of-the-art high-quality instrumentation and careful observation influenced more practical puritans; the New Model Army came to be noted for the lethal, scientific accuracy of their artillery. The overall effect on the Civil War was limited, but some sieges ended sooner. Still, the Puritan Science couldn't save Parliamentary government from its inherent problems, and Charles II was restored to the throne on Homeline schedule in 1660.

This made things a little warm for Horrocks and his colleagues, but a solution offered itself; his brother Thomas was already living in New England as one of the founders of the colony, and Jeremiah and several friends sailed for America shortly after the Restoration. The Monarchists were reflexively hostile to the Puritan Science, but too many of their military officers wanted the new artillery sights, and too many sailors were using navigational tables and techniques developed by the Puritan Scientists. When Isaac Newton rose to prominence, the major problems of celestial mechanics appeared to have been resolved. However, Newton still had optics to interest him, and Walllis's engagement with celestial mechanics had distracted him from pure mathematics, giving Newton more space in which to play. The hint of a threat from James II to enforce Catholic ideology on the New Science and the associated mechanical crafts is sometimes blamed on the timeline for James's eviction from the throne in 1688; by contrast, William of Orange loves the new artillery.

The current year is 1692, and the ageing Jeremiah Horrocks is the grand old man of a Harvard College now engaged almost as much with science as with theology. Meanwhile, this world's version of Newton's Principia, published in 1689, is a work dense with abstract theories, as Newton pushes ever deeper into what his colleagues regard as mathematical mysticism. His work is certainly largely irrelevant to the low-key technological revolution taking place in the workshops of England, regardless of the sniffing disapproval of High Church monarchists.

Homeline researchers find this timeline fascinating, and have to remind themselves to be worried about it; Centrum has a presence here, and would love Britain to fully reunite fully with New England and expand across the world ahead of schedule, with a more scientistic ideology. Meanwhile, agents who have got close enough to Newton to hear him talk have suggested that he may be creeping up on a theory of Relativity... The best bet is that this is a nascent clockpunk world with an accelerated scientific revolution that may drag heavy industry along with it, needing strenuous protection from Centrum, though it may just remain a fairly close parallel with some fancy toys. No one wants to bet on that, though, especially as a serviceable maritime chronometer seems to be under development.

One thing that Infinity certainly needs to check soon is the local mana level. There's little sign of functioning magic on this timeline, but if it could be made to work, there's no telling where Newton's febrile thinking might lead him. Clockpunk timelines rarely get out of hand until the development of steam power or occasionally electricity (itself possibly the next thing to worry about), but magical clockpunk created by the greatest, strangest mind in scientific history, who may yet derive the relationship between mass and energy, could be quite a problem.

[Astromancer]

Horrox is grand.